In case of a fire people occupying apartments on the respective floors of a building normally try to escape using the stairs if not blocked by flames or smoke. Alternately they are rescued by fire departments from the exterior of the building up to certain limited heights.
It is believed known that efforts to escape apartments have been tried by the use of strands of rope or any other support such as interconnected sheets, which have in some cases permitted the escape of persons out of a window avoiding the alternative of jumping.